
Gass r74- 
Book 3 j h (^ . 



^i^fi^tr^ <^^^^^ 











TWO 






DISC OURSE S 






DELIVERED BEFORE THE 






FIRST PARISH IN CAMBRIDGE; 






ONE, UPON 






LEAVING THE OLD MEETING HOUSE, 






AND THE OTHEK, 






AT THE DEDICATION OF THE NEW. 






BY WILLIAM NEWELL, 






PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN CAMBRIDGE. 




33tfntetr liaj aXcqucst of tje Soctetaj. 




. CAMBRIDGE: 






JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. 






1834. 











A / 



FAREWELL SERMON 

UPON LEAVING ^i J"^ 

THE OLD MEETING HOUSE 



FIRST PARISH IN CAMBRIDGE 

On Sunday, December I, 1833. 



BY WILLIAM NEWELL, 

PASTOR OF THE SOCIETY. 



33i;fntett bn l^cquest o£ tlje Socictij. 



m^ 



T 

CAMBRIDGE: "^ 



JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. 

1834. 



J 



■C\\{q 



* . 



TO HIS PARISHIONERS, 



WITH AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCES AND CHRISTIAN HOPES, 



THESE DISCOURSES 



ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 



BY THE AUTHOR. 



DISCOURSE 



HAGGAl, ii. 3. 

Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory ? 

We are assembled for the last time in this an- 
cient house, where of old our fathers worshipped, 
and where we have so often communed together 
with God. The sanctuary, which, for nearly four- 
score years has welcomed within its doors the 
multitudes that have here kept holy time, — the 
altar, from which the Sabbath prayer, the Sabbath 
hymn, the lessons of Holy Writ, and the words of 
the Christian preacher have been so long heard, 
are now to be forsaken and removed. We come to 
bid them farewell. 

Upon this occasion it may be gratifying to my 
hearers to learn some particulars of the age and 
history of the house which we are about to leave ; 
and to be informed of the little that can now be 
known concerning the several places of worship 
which preceded it. For this purpose we must go 
back two hundred years to the original establish- 
ment of the religious society for whose use they 
have been successively erected. This society, as 
you all know, was one of the first churches planted 
by our Pilgrim Fathers in the American wilderness ; 



and, for its antiquity, the celebrity of its founders, 
the high character of its pastors, and its ancient 
connexion with the university in this place, which 
was once united with it in the offices of public 
worship,* it has some claims upon the interest even 
of those who are not immediately connected with it. 
Its history commences with the early settlement 
of this town. In the year 1630, soon after ihe 
arrival of the fleet which brought Winthrop and 
Dudley with their Pilgrim band to the shores of 
New England, it was determined to build a forti- 
fied town to protect the colonists from the appre- 
hended incursions of the Indians. The spot w hich 
was finally selected for this purpose was that which 
we now^ so peacefully inhabit ; w here the Red 
Man of the forest, when by some rare chance he 
wanders among us from his distant home, comes 
but as a timid stranger, an object of curiosity in- 
deed, but not of dread. " After divers meetings 
at Boston, Roxbury, and Watertown," says Deputy 
Governor Dudley in his letter to the Countess of 
Lincoln, dated March 28, 1631, "on the twenty- 
eighth of December, we grew to this resolution, 
to bind all the assistants (Mr. Endicott and Mr. 
Sharp excepted, which last purposeth to return by 
the next ship into England) to build houses, at a 
place, a mile east from Watertown, near Charles 
River, the next spring, and to winter there the 
next year ; that so by our examples, and by rc- 

* Since 1815 there have been distinct religious services on the 
Sabbath for tlic nicinbers of tlie college in tlie imivcr^^ity cliapel. 



moving the ordnance and munition thither, all who 
were able might be drawn thither, and such as 
shall come to us hereafter to their advantage, be 
compelled so to do ; and so if God would, a forti- 
fied town might there gro^v up, the place fitting 
reasonably well thereto." 

According to the agreement which is here men- 
tioned by Dudley (who was himself one of the 
chief founders of Cambridge, " being zealous to 
liave it made the metropolis " *) in the spring of 
1631, the building of " the New Town " was com- 
menced and carried on with much activity. A 
fortification, of which some traces are supposed 
to be still visible, was made about it at the public 
expense. As it was originally intended for the 
seat of government, and the residence of the 
chief men of the colony, it was for a time the 
object of especial legislative attention and pat- 
ronage ; but, in consequence of the failure of the 
governor and others to fulfil their agreement to 
build and settle in it, as well as the disadvan- 
tage of its situation for purposes of commerce, 
it soon appeared evident that the expectations 
of its founders could not be fully realized. It 
must have grown very rapidly, however, during the 
first two years of its settlement ; for we find it de- 
scribed by a writer, f who returned from this coun- 
try to England in 1633, as " one of the neatest and 
best compacted towns in New England, having 



* Prince. See Appendix, Note A. 

t Wood in his New England's Prospect. 



8 

many fair structures, with many handsome con- 
trived streets." In the summer of 1632, "the 
Braintree Company," which had begun to settle at 
Mount Wollaston, removed by order of court to 
this place.* Having thus received a considerable 
addition to their numbers, and being now in the 
expectation of the arrival of the celebrated Thomas 
Hooker, who had been invited from Holland by 
his old friends and hearers of the company just 
mentioned to become their pastor, the inhabitants 
of the village began to make preparation for the 
regular observance of religious ordinances, and the 
support of a settled ministry among them. 

This, as you well know, was one of the first 
objects of attention with our ancestors ; "it being 
as unnatural " (to use the quaint language of one 
of our ancient historians) " it being as unnatural 
for a right New-England man to live without an 
able ministry, as for a smith to work his iron with- 
out a fire." As soon, therefore, as they were set- 
tled in their new habitations, in the course of the 
year 1632, according to the annalist, Prince, who 
states it upon the authority of a manuscript letter, 
the people of Newtown (as this place was called 
until 1638) f " built the first house of public wor- 

* Winthrop. " The Braintree Company " probably took its name 
from a village in England, near Chelmsford, where Mr. Hooker 
preached for several years. His eloquence and popularity were sucli 
that people flocked from all parts of the neighbouring country to hear 
him. 

f Its name was then altered to Cambridge " in compliment to the 
])lace Avhere so many of the civil and clerical fathers of New Eng- 
land had received their education. There were, probably, at that tunc, 



ship with a bell upon it." This house, we are 
told, stood about thirty rods south of the spot 
on which we are now assembled. At this distance 
of time there is little information to be obtained 
concerning it ; especially as the church records pre- 
vious to the time of Mr. Brattle, who was settled in 
1696, have been by some unfortunate accident lost 
or destroyed. We learn from other sources that a 
church (the eighth of the New-England churches) 
was first gathered in the new meeting-house, and a 
pastor settled, in the autumn of 1633. On Friday^ 
the 11 til of October of that year, Thomas Hooker 
was ordained as pastor, and Samuel Stone as 
teacher, of the congregation at Newtown. The au- 
tumn of the present year therefore completed just 
two centuries since the gathering of the first church 
of Christ in this town, the ordination of a settled 
ministry, and the commencement of the regular 
preaching of the Gospel in the first lowly temple 
built by our fathers. Mr. Hooker remained here 
but a short time. In consequence of the small- 
ness of the township, as originally laid out, and 
the want of sufficient land for the purposes of agri- 
culture and pasturage, he and his people soon became 
dissatisfied with their situation, and finally obtained 
permission from the General Court to remove in a 
body to Connecticut, on condition of their remain- 



forty or fifty sons of the university of Cambridge in Old England, — 
one for every two hundred or two hundred and fifty inhabitants, — 
dwelling in the few villages of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The 
sons of Oxford were not few." — Savage's jVbfe tijwn Winthrop, 
Vol. I. p. 265. 

2 



10 

ing under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. They 
left Cambridge in June, 1636 ; and, after a fortnight's 
journey on foot, at length reached the place of their 
destination, where they built a town, which they 
at first called Newtown, afterwards Hartford. 
Before their departure ihey had disposed of their 
houses and lands to another company, who had ar- 
rived from England, the autumn previous, with " the 
faithful and famous Shepard " their future pastor. 
On the 1st of February, 1636, a new church was or- 
ganized here with much form and solemnity in the 
place of that which was about to remove ; and Mr. 
Shepard was soon after ordained as its pastor. 

This pious, faithful, and simple-hearted servant 
of Christ, after a devoted and successful ministry 
of thirteen years, died August 25, 1649, at the age 
of forty-four. He was succeeded in the ministry by 
Jonathan Mitchell, who was ordained August 21, 
1650. — It was about the time of his settlement that 
the second church was erected, somewhere near the 
spot on which we are now worshipping. It appears 
from the ancient town records * that a vote had 
been passed in February, 1650, to repair the old 
meeting-house ; but, on farther consideration, it 
was determined at a subsequent meeting in March 
to build a new one " about forty feet square " and 
*' covered with shingle." It was also then voted 
and generally agreed that " the new meeting-house 
shall stand on the Watch-House Hill ;" the same 
eminence, it is supposed, on which the house in 
which we are now assembled is placed. The 

* See Appendix, Note B. 



11 



second church must have been completed, and the 
old one removed, in the course of the year 1650 
or 1651 ; as we find a vote of the town passed in 
February, 1652, " that the Townsmen * shall make 
sale of the land whereon the old meeting-house 
stood." 

It appears, then, that the first house of worship 
erected for the use of our fathers of this society 
was occupied only eighteen years. It was proba- 
bly a small and humble edifice, accommodated to 
the numbers and means of the early settlers. In 
other and more important respects, however, — in 
the piety of those who worshipped beneath its 
lowly roof, in the devotion, industry, talents, and 
fame of those who ministered at its altar, — the 
glory of that ancient house is not likely to be sur- 
passed. It was in that house that Thomas Hooker, f 
afterwards " the Renowned Pastor of Hartford 
church, and Pillar of Connecticut colony," and one 
of the most eminent preachers J of his day, com- 
menced his ministerial labours in New England. — 
It was in that house that Thomas Shepard, called 
by one of his cotemporaries " that gratious, sweete, 
heavenly-minded, and soule -ravishing minister," 
whose solemn, impressive, and melting delivery 

* The Selectmen. 

f A fuller account, Avhich did not come within the plan or the lim- 
its of this discourse, of Hooker, Shepard and their successors in 
tlie ministry, may be found in Dr. Holmes's History of Cambridge, 
where he gives a distinct biography of each. The well known ac- 
curacy and thoroughness of my respected predecessor leave little to 
be done by one who comes after him, 

t See Appendix, Note C. 



12 

seems to have produced a great effect on all who 
heard him, and whose writings, now almost un- 
known and forgotten, were once in high estimation, 
— preached to the little flock who had accompanied 
him in his exile and shared with him the dangers 
of the great sea. — It was in that house that Jon- 
athan Mitchell, another of the most eminent and 
influential clergymen of New England, — a man 
universally beloved, esteemed, and admired for his 
talents and learning as well as for his eloquence, 
wisdom, and piety, — began his labours ; and his 
lips no doubt spoke the words of farewell when 
our fathers left it for their second temple. 

There are some other historical recollections 
connected with the first meeting-house which de- 
serve to be noticed. It was in that house that the 
two most famous synods of New England were 
convened ; the first, in 1637, for the exposure, 
condemnation, and suppression of Antinomian doc- 
trines, introduced by Mrs. Hutchinson and her fol- 
lowers ; and the other which, in 1648,* after contin- 
ued meetings and discussions for nearly two years, 
finally adopted the Platform of Church-Discipline, 
called " The Cambridge Platform," which was for 
a long time the acknowledged rule of ecclesiastical 
discipline among the greater part of the churches 
of New England. It was in that house too, I be- 
lieve, that the first commencement of Harvard 
College, and of course the first in America, was 
celebrated on the second Tuesday of August, 1642 ; 
when the governor, magistrates, and ministers, 

* Sep Appendix, Note, D. 



13 

with a great concourse of people from all parts, joy- 
fully assembled to witness the triumphs of Chris- 
tian learning on a spot which a few years before 
had been the abode of the untutored Indian. 

These are some of the interesting facts connected 
with the history of the first house of worship in this 
place, which make its short life of eighteen years 
a memorable one in the eyes of lovers of the past. 
The minute circumstances relating to its size, ma- 
terials, and architecture, we have now no means of 
ascertaining ; nor indeed have they any importance 
or interest except as matters of antiquarian curios- 
ity. There is one fact however, with regard to 
the mode in which people were once summoned to 
public worship in it, which happens to have come 
down to us, and which though trivial in itself may 
be worth mentioning on this occasion. 

It appears that, at one time, for some reason 
now unknown, the bell (which, as we learn from 
Prince, whose words I have quoted to you, and 
also from the town records, was at first used to 
call the people together) was either removed, or 
became unfit for service, and a drum was substi- 
tuted in its place ; — a fit emblem, methinks, of 
the early times of New England, when the sounds 
of worship and of war were so often blended to- 
gether ; when the hymn of the Pilgrim, as it 
rose upon the stillness of the Sabbath, was some- 
times mingled with the battle-cry of his Indian foe. 
The fact which I have mentioned, the use of a 
drum instead of a bell, is confirmed by the town 
records, in which we find an order from the select- 



14 

men (in 1646)* for the payment of a man " for his 
service to the town in beating the drum." We learn 
it incidentally also from a singular story in John- 
son's " Wonder-working Providence of Sion's Sa- 
viour in New England." f As this story is, on sev- 
eral accounts, a curious one, I shall repeat it as 
nearly as possible in the language of the historian. 
In " the dismal yeare of sixteen hundred thirty- 
six," a person who had lately come over to New- 
England, hoping to fmd the true doctrine of Christ 
preached there, " was incountered at his first land- 
ing with some of the Errorists " of that time, viz. 
Mrs. Hutchinson and her disciples. " When he 
saw the good old way of Christ rejected by them, 
and he could not skill in that new light, which was 
the common theame of every man's discourse, hee 
betooke him to a narrow Indian path, in which his 
serious meditations soone led him, where none but 
senseless trees and echoing rocks make answer to 
his heart-easeing mone. ' O,' quoth he, ' where am 
I become. Is this the place where those Reverend 
Preachers are fled, that Christ was pleased to make 
use of to rouse up his rich graces in many a droop- 
ing soule ? Here have I met with some that tell 
mee, I must take a naked Christ.' — But ' what is 
the whole life of a Christian upon this earth, but 
through the power of Christ to die to sinne, and live 
to holinesse and righteousnesse, and for that end to 

* " 5 (9) 1646. It is ordered by y« Townsmen that there shall be 
fifty shillings payde unto Tho. Longhorne for his service to ye 
Towne in beatoing y^ Drum this two years last past." 

t Chapter XLIII. 



15 



be diligent in the use of meanes.^ At the uttering 
of this word he starts up from the greene bed of 
his complaint, with resolution to hear some one of 
these able ministers preach (whom report had so 
valued) before his will should make choyce of any 
one principle, though of crossing the broade seas 
back againe. Then turning his face to the Sun, 
he steered his course toward the next Town, and 
after some small travell hee came to a large plaine. 
No sooner was he entered thereon, but hearing the 
sound of a Drum he was directed toward it by a 
broade beaten way. Following this rode he de- 
mands of the next man he met what the signall of 
the drum meant. The reply was made they had 
as yet no Bell to call men to meeting ; and there- 
fore made use of a Drum. ' Who is it,' quoth he, 
* lectures at this Towne.' The other replies, ' I 
see you are a stranger new come over, seeing you 
know not the man. It is one Mr. Shepheard.' 
' Verily,' quoth the other, ' you hit the right, 1 am 
new come over indeed, and have been told since I 
came most of your ministers are legall preachers, 
onely if I mistake not they told me this man 
preached a finer covenant of workes than the other. 
But however, I shall make what haste I can to 
heare him. Fare you well.' Then hasting thither 
hee croudeth through the thickest, where having 
stayed while the glasse* was turned up twice, the 

* The hour-glass. It was anciently the custom to have an hour 
glass by the side of the preacher, Avhich he turned up on beginning 
his sermon, that he might know the length of his preaching. A mod- 
ern audience Avould hardly tolerate a preacher, even Avere he a second 
Shepard, who should often " turne up the glasse twice," 



16 



man was metamorphosed, and was faine to hang 
down the head often, least his watery eyes should 
blab abroad the secret conjunction of his affections, 
his heart crying loud to the Lord's ecchoing answer, 
to his blessed spirit, that caused the speech of a 
poore, weake, pale-complectioned man to take such 
impression in his soule, by applying the word so 
aptly, as if hee had beene his privy Counseller, 
cleering Christ's worke of grace in the soule from 
all those false doctrines, which the erronious party 
had afrighted him withall ; and now he resolves 
(the Lord willing) to live and die with the Minis- 
ters of New England, whom hee now saw the Lord 
had not onely made zealous to stand for the truth 
of his Discipline, but also of his Doctrine, and not 
to give ground one inch." 

The second meeting-house was built, as I have 
already mentioned, about the time of Mr Mitchell's 
settlement in 1650 ; and enjoyed the ministrations 
of that highly-gifted and holy man for eighteen 
years. In the summer of 1668, just after preach- 
ing on the words, " I know that thou wilt bring me 
to death and unto the house appointed for all the 
living," he was suddenly seized with a fever which 
proved fatal. He died July 9, 1668, in the forty- 
third year of his age. He was succeeded, after 
an interval of three years, (during a part of which 
time President Chauncy supplied the pulpit,) by 
Urian Oakes, a graduate of Harvard, but afterwards 
settled in England, his native country, whither he 
had returned soon after leaving college in 1649. 
His high reputation induced the church and society 



17 



to send out a messenger to England to invite him 
to become their pastor. He accepted their invita- 
tion, and was installed in 1671. In 1675 he was 
chosen to the presidency of Harvard College, and 
continued to perform the duties of that office in 
conjunction with those of his ministry until his 
sudden death by a fever, July 25, 1681, in the 
fiftieth year of his age. Mr. Oakes was distinguished 
for his abilities and acquirements ; for his pleasing 
eloquence ; and for the uncommon mildness and 
modesty which adorned his character through life. 
The next who officiated in the pulpit of the second 
meeting-house was Nathaniel Gookin ; whose his- 
tory and character seem now to be almost as ob- 
scure as the obliterated inscription on the tomb- 
stone which tradition has pointed out as his in our 
ancient burying-ground. We can learn little more 
of him than that he was a graduate of Harvard, was 
an assistant in the pulpit of Mr. Oakes after he 
was called to the presidency, was ordained Novem- 
ber 15, 1682, and died August 7, 1692, in the 
thirty-fourth year of his age, and tenth of his min- 
istry.* From this time until 1696 the pulpit con- 
tinued vacant. The society at length made choice 
of William Brattle, who accepted their call, and was 
ordained Nov. 25, 1696. He was the last of the 
four preachers who ministered in the second meet- 
ing-house. It was taken down in 1706, after hav- 
ing stood fifty-six years. 

* His father was Major-general Gookin, a distinguished inhabitant 
of Cambridge, the friend of the Indians, and the assistant of Eliot in 
his labours for their conversion. 

3 



1: 



In the town records for 1705, 1 find the following- 

o 

votes relating to the erection of the third church : — 
"At a Meeting of y'' Inhabitants belonging to the Old 
Meeting-house in Cambridge orderly convened y^ 6th 
December 1705. ' Voted, that y'' sum of two hun- 
dred and eighty Pounds be Levied on s"^ Inhabitants 
towards y« Building a New Meeting-house amongst 
them.' ' Also Voted that y" committee appointed 
by s'' Inhabitants 12th July 1703, viz. The Hon"'" 
Andrew Belcher, Tho' Brattle, John Leverett, Fra^ 
Foxcroft, Esqi^^ Dea. Walter Hasting, Capt. Tho^ 
Oliver, and M' W'" Russell, together with M"^ Edm'' 
Goffe being joyn'd to s'' Committee instead of Dea. 
Walter Hasting deceased agree with some suitable 
person or persons to build s'' Meeting house and 
inspect y" workmen that so said Building may be 
done in good workmanlike order.' " In pursuance 
of these votes the third meeting-house was built in 
1706 a little in front of this. The first Sabbath 
service was performed in it December 13, 1706. 
In this house Mr. Brattle officiated until his death, 
February 15, 1717. He was greatly beloved and 
esteemed by his people and by the whole community. 
His manner of preaching (as described by Dr. Col- 
man) was " calm, soft, and melting." " They that 
had the happiness to know Mr. Brattle," says 
another, " knew a very religious good man, an able 
divine, a laborious faithful minister, an excellent 
scholar, a great benefactor, a wise and prudent 
man, and one of the best of friends." — Mr. Brat- 
tle was succeeded in 1717 by Nathaniel Appleton, 
whose ministry is one of the longest and most 



19 



successful on record. The meeting-house, in which 
he was ordained, and which was nearly new at 
the time of his settlement, proved to be of frailer 
materials than its youthful pastor. He outlived it 
about thirty years. It was taken down in 1757, 
and the materials (as appears from votes of the 
town and parish) were given by the parish towards 
the erection of the court-house, which is still stand- 
ing, and likely to stand for many years to come. 
Whether any part of the materials of the old church 
was actually used for this purpose, or whether they 
were sold, and the proceeds applied to defray the 
expense of building that house, I am not informed. 
The house, in which we are now worshipping 
for the last time, and which is the fourth erected 
for the use of our parish, was raised November 
17, 1756; and was first occupied for public 
worship July 24, 1757. There are still living 
among us four individuals, who were baptized by 
Dr. Appleton in the old meeting-house which stood 
in front of this. Three of them are members of 
this society ; one of whom was the last person bap- 
tised in that house, on the last Sabbath on which 
public worship was attended in it, July 17, 1757. 
The rest are in the grave, and the places that 
knew them, know them no more. So will it be 
with us. O God, so teach us to number our days, 
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Let 
the remembrance of death keep us from sloth and 
sin ; and quicken us in the performance of our duty 
to thee, and to the friends whom we must soon 
leave. 



20 



There are none, I believe, of the individuals to 
whom I have alluded w^ho have a distinct recol- 
lection of the pulling down of the old house, or of 
the building of the new ; so that the words of the 
text may be applied with almost literal propriety on 
the present occasion, " Who is left among you that 
saw this house in her Jirst glory ? " 

With the names and characters of the pastors 
who have successively officiated in this pulpit, most 
of you, I presume, are already acquainted. Dr. 
Appleton, whom I have already mentioned as the 
first in order, is remembered with affectionate ven- 
eration by many who are still left among us. 
He lived to the great age of 91, and retained his 
faculties in a remarkable degree till the last year of 
his life. I find a record in his own handwriting of 
several baptisms performed by him in public as well 
as at his own house, in 1783, the year before his 
death. But the crooked lines and the blurred and 
trembling characters betray the infirmities of the 
aged pastor. Dr. Appleton was very happily 
qualified for his office. His unfeigned seriousness 
and piety, the integrity and simplicity of his char- 
acter, his wisdom and moderation, his active be- 
nevolence, his hospitality, courtesy, and kindness, 
together with his apostolic and patriarchal appear- 
ance and manners, gave him an almost unbounded 
influence over his people. With a competent share 
of the learning of his time he united strong common 
sense and a practical cast of mind which made his 
preaching profitable to his hearers. His discourses 
were marked with a pithy plainness of expression, 



21 

and a colloquial familiarity of language and illus- 
tration, which might sound strangely in a modern 
pulpit ; but " the application was so pertinent, and 
his utterance and air so solemn, as to suppress levity 
and silence criticism." Towards those who differed 
from him in religious opinions, " he was candid and 
catholic. ' Orthodoxy and Charity ' were his motto, 
and he happily exemplified the union of both in 
his ministry and in his life." * — On the 27th of 
October, 1783, the Rev. Timothy Hilliard, for- 
merly minister of Barnstable, was installed as col- 
league with Dr. Appleton, who died the following 
February, after a ministry of sixty-seven years among 
this people. Mr. Hilliard died on the 9th of May, 
1790, in the 44th year of his age, and the seventh 
of his ministry in Cambridge. He is remembered 
with much respect and affection by those of his 
congregation who are yet living, as a kind and 
faithful pastor, a serious and practical f preacher, 
and a most amiable and exemplary man. — He was 
succeeded by the Rev. Abiel Holmes, who was 
installed January 25, 1792, and continued minister 
of this parish, until the unhappy religious dissen- 

* Dr. Holmes's History of Cambiidge. His portrait by Copley, now 
in the possession of Mrs. Appleton of this town, represents him hold- 
ing a volume of Watts entitled " Orthodoxy and Charity." 

t " He was not frequent in handling subjects of doubtful disputa- 
tion. To inculcate repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and a hearty conformity to the practical precepts of tlie 
Gospel he considered of the first importance ; and such was the 
general tenor of his preaching." Like his predecessor, Dr. Appleton, 
" he was ready to embrace all good men though their religious opin- 
ions might in many respects differ from his," — President Willard's 
Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Hilliard. 



sions, which have shaken the land far the last 
twenty years, led to a separation in 1 829 ; an event 
greatly regretted by his old parishioners, to whom 
he had ministered in so long and happy a union, 
and among whom there is but one feeling of esteem 
and affection towards their former pastor. The 
present pastor was ordained May 19, 1830. 

It appears from this statement that there have 
been two pastors of our church and society installed, 
and one ordained, in this house since its erection. 
The number of admissions to the church during the 
same period has been 476 ; of public baptisms, 1389 ; 
of which nearly one half were performed by Dr. Ap- 
pleton during the last twenty-seven years of his min- 
istry. Six of the sixteen Presidents of our University 
have been inaugurated in this place ; and the 
oldest living graduate, the Hon. Paine Wingate of 
Stratham, New Hampshire, who stands on the 
catalogue a lonely survivor amidst the starred names 
of the dead, took his degree within these walls. 

There are some other reminiscences connected 
with it, which give it an added interest and dis- 
tinction. It was here that our beloved Washington, 
during his encampment at Cambridge in 1775, 
worshipped God in the Sabbath assembly, and 
with his brother-patriots in arms acknowledged his 
dependence on the Lord of Hosts with that piety 
which marked the character of our ancestors, and 
was ever conspicuous in that of the Father of our 
country. It was here that Lafayette, the surviving 
apostle of freedom, on his triumphal visit to our 
land, was so eloquently welcomed. It was in this 



23 



house also that in 1779 a State Convention, com- 
posed of delegates from the several towns of the 
Commonwealth, framed the Constitution of Mas- 
sachusetts. This house then carries back our 
thoughts to many events and scenes of a political 
and academical as well as religious interest. There 
is, probably, no one now standing, in which so 
many of the distinguished men of New England^ 
if not of the whole country, have, at one time or 
another, on the Sabbath or on other occasions, 
been present. Its antiquated construction and 
even some of its discomforts have their interest to 
the eyes of many, as they are associated with 
recollections of former days, or of the times of 
their youth. It is one of the simple but substan- 
tial structures, of which there are a few still re- 
maining here and there, in defiance of time, the 
unclassical specimens of our homely New-England 
church architecture of the past century ; and, in 
their durability and plainness, both the monuments 
and the emblems of the generation by which they 
were erected. And now, having reached the good 
old age of seventy-seven years, and twice seven 
days, — having withstood the winds and the rains, 
the snows and the suns of so many changing sea- 
sons, having outlived almost all who saw it in its 
first glory, it is no longer to bear witness to our 
vows and prayers in the solemn assembly. We are 
met here for the last time. Antiquated and un- 
comfortable as it now is, to many of my hearers it 
has been endeared by early associations and do- 
mestic remembrances, as well as by religious feeh 



24 



ing ; and, in leaving it even for a more comely and 
convenient edifice, there are some who cannot but 
feel a kind of sadness like that with which we leave 
our father's home, the home of our youth. Many 
tender and solemn recollections rise upon their 
minds in the softened light of the past. " Here " 
says one, " my young mind received the glad news 
of the kingdom of God, and was awakened to a sense 
of its immortal nature, and its nobler duties. Here 
my good resolutions were stirred into life, and I de- 
termined to live as a Christian, and a child of God. 
Here my doubts and my anxieties were hushed into 
silence by communion with the Father, and by 
the cheering words of his truth falling from the 
lips of the preacher upon my open heart. Here 
my worldly desires, my worldly principles were 
rebuked ; and better motives and higher objects 
impressed upon my soul." " Here," says another, 
"I sat for many happy years with friends now 
no more ; ~ and, with them, enjoyed the pleasures 
of a devotion made holier by Christian sympathy. 
Here I dedicated my offspring to the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Here I cele- 
brated the dying love of my Saviour, and gained 
new strength to follow him through the various 
duties and trials of life. Here my devotional 
feelings have been renewed and strengthened from 
Sabbath to Sabbath, as I have mused in these 
familiar seats on the works and the word of God." 
— Thoughts like these must be passing through 
the minds of all who have worshipped in this place. 
We part from it as we do from an old friend. And 



25 

in parting from it, may God forgive us the sins 
which we have here committed in this His sanc- 
tuary ; — forgive us our cold prayers, and the wan- 
dering, worhlly thoughts which have too often 
mingled themselves with the religious meditations 
of the Sabbath ; — forgive us the half-lormed or 
broken vows which we have here made ; — for- 
give us the low motives which have sometimes 
brought us to His house, and the unsanctilied 
feelings with which we have sometimes listened 
to its services. — As we go hence, may we depart 
with a determination to make a better use than 
we have here done of our religious privileges ; to 
dedicate our own souls to God, while we dedicate 
a new temple to His service ; and to walk before 
Him in all his ordinances, holy and blameless. 
And now, in the name of my brethren, I 
bid farewell to this house, sanctified and en- 
deared to us by recollections of the past ; the 
place, where departed friends have worshipped, 
where our own souls have ascended to God, where 
the good and the great of the land have been 
gathered, where the Father of our country prayed 
to the God of hosts in the time of our country's 
trial. We bid its well-known seats, its familiar 
walls, the worshippers' farewell. 

4 



I 



APPENDIX 



NOTE A. 

Upon Mr. Hooker's removal to Hartford in 1636, Mr. Dudley re- 
moved to Ipswich. He afterwards fixed his residence in Roxbury, 
where he died in 1653. He was a man of strong passions, rigid in his 
notions of discipline and government, and, like many of the early set- 
tlers, intolerant in his religious sentiments ; but Avithal a man of great 
worth, integrity, and piety. The account in Winthrop of tlie misun- 
derstanding and disputes Avhich took place between him and Dudley, 
(partly in consequence of the Governor's removing his house from 
Cambridge) illustrates the different characters of the two fathers of 
Massachusetts. Mr. Dudley's " firm and robust constitution and 
vigorous mind, and his civil and military accomplishments rendered 
him conspicuously useful in the arduous enterprise ni Avhich he and 
his associates were engaged. He should be remembered with rever- 
ence and esteem though there may be some features of undue sever- 
ity in his character. In his dread of toleration he was far from being 
alone. It was the prevailing temper of his age." " The verses fol- 
lowing," says Morton, "were found in Jiis pocket after his death, wliich 
may further illustrate his character, and give a taste of his poetical 
fancy ; wherein it is said he did excel." 

" Dim eyes, deaf ears, cold stomach shew 
My dissolution is in view. 
Eleven times seven near lived liave I, 
And now God calls, I willing die. 
My shuttle 's shot, my race is run, 
My sun is set, my day is done. 
My span is measured, tale is told. 
My flower is faded and grown old. 



28 

My dream is vanished, shadow 's fled, 

My soul with Christ, my body dead. 

Farewell dear wife, children and friends, 

Hate heresy, make blessed ends. 

Bear poverty, live witli good men, 

So shall we live with joy again. 

Let men of God in courts and churches ivaich, 

Over such as do a toleration hatch, 

Lest that Ul egg bring forth a cockatrice, 

To poison all with heresy and vice. 

If men be left and otherwise combine, 

My Epitapli 's, / died no Uhertine." 

The dread of heresy and toleration here expressed was not peculiar 
to Dudley. Most of the early settlers of Massuchusetts were opposed 
to an entire freedom of religious opinion and worship. " Tlie men of 
God in Court and Church " wrote and spoke against toleration for 
some time after Mr. Dudley's death. Mr. Mitchell, in liis Election 
Sermon at Cambridge in 1G67, condemns a " licentious toleration ", as 
he calls it, and Mr. Oakes speaks still more strongly against it in a 
discourse upon the same occasion a few years after. There are some 
lines however of Mitchell, preserved in Mather, Avhich are sufficiently 
catholic for any age. They are from an elegy on President Dunster, 
whose heretical opinions on the subject of baptism had finally obliged 
him to resign his office. Tlie lines to which I allude, from the pen of 
one of the earliest and most distinguished pastors of our church, are 
worth transcribing for the sentiment, if not for the poetry ; though in 
this last respect they are quite equal to most of the doggrel written at 
that time, when rhyming seems to have been the fashion of the day 
among ministers as well as laymen. I therefore subjoin them. 

Where faith in Jesus is sincere. 

That soul he saving pardoncth ; 
What wants and errors else be there 

That may and do consist therewith. 

And though we be imperfect here, 

And in one mind can't often meet, 
Who know in part, in part may err. 

Though faith be one, all do not see 't ; 

Yet may M-e once the rest obtain 

In everlasting bliss above. 
Where Christ with perfect saints doth reign, 

In perfect light and perfect love ; 



29 

Then shall wc all like-minded be, 
Faith's unity is there full-grown ; 

There one truth all both love and see 
And thence are perfect made in one. 

There Luther both and Zuinglius, 
Ridley and Hooper there agree ; 

There all the truly righteous 
Sans feud live to eternity. 



NOTE B. 



The following are the votes, relating to the erection of the second 
liouse of worship, as taken from the town records ; 

" At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the town 18. 12. 49. * 

" Voted and agreed by a general consent that the meeting house 
shall be repaired Avith a 4 : square roofe and covered with shingle, and 
the charges thereof levied upon the Inhabitants of the towne by equall 
rate. Also Edw: Goife, Tho : Marrett, Jno. Stedman, Robt. Holmes, 
and Tho : Danforth, are chosen by the towne to oversee and carry on 
this worke, to agree with workmen, and to levie the charge of their 
ingagements for the worke, upon the Inhabitants of the towne." 

" 11th (1 ) mo. 1649-50. At a general meeting of tlie whole Towne, 
it was then voted and agreed that the five men chosen by the Towne 
to repayre the meeting house shall desist from the same and agree 
with workmen for the building of a new house, about forty foot 
square, and covered as was formerly agreed for the other, and levy 
the charge of their ingagements upon the Inhabitants of the Towne. 
— It was also then voted and generally agreed that the new meet- 
ing house shall stand on the Watch house hill." 



NOTE C. 

An anecdote, related by Winthrop and Mather, of the preaching of 
Mr. Hooker in his old meeting-house at Cambridge, in 1039, while on 
a visit to Massachusetts, is somewhat curious. " On May 26, 1639, 

* That is, the 18th of the 12th month, 1649; or, according to modern reckoning, the 
18tli of February, 1C50. The year anciently begun on the25tli of March. This was 
called the first month and February the twelfth. 



30 



Mr. Hooker being here to preach that Lord's day in the afternoon, his 
great fame had gathered a vast multitude of hearers from several other 
congregations, and among the rest the Governor* himself to be made 
partaker of his ministry. But when he came to preach, he found him- 
self so unacountably at a loss, that after some shattered and broken 
attempts to proceed, he made a full stop, saying to the assembly, 
" that every thing which he would have spoken Avas taken out of his 
mouth, and out of his mind also." Wherefore he desired them to sing 
a psalm, while he withdrew about half an hour from them. Return- 
ing then to the congregation he preached a most admirable sermon, 
wherein he held them for two hours togetlier in an extraordinary strain 
of pertinency and vivacity." — Mather's Magnalia. 



I 



NOTE D. 

The following notice from Winthrop of the final meeting of tliis 
synod, and of a little incident Avhich took place in the meeting-house, 
is illustrative of the spirit of the times. " 15 (6) (15 August). Tlie 
Synod met at Cambridge by adjournment from June last. Mr. Allen 
of Dedham preached out of Acts xv. a very godly, learned, and par- 
ticular handling of near all the doctrines and applications concerning 
that subject, with a clear discovery and refutation of such errors, 
objections, and scruples as had been raised about it by the young 
heads in the country. It fell out, about the midst of his sermon, there 
came a snake into the seat Avhere many of the elders sate behind the 
preacher. It came in at the door where people stood thick upon the 
stairs. Divers of the elders shifted from it, but Mr. Thompson, one 
of the elders of Braintree (a man of much faith), trode upon the licad 
of it, and so held it Avitli his foot and staff Avith a small pair of grains 
until it Avas killed. This being so remarhthle, and nothing falling out 
but by Divine Providence, it is out of doubt, the Lord discovered 
someAvhat of his mind in it. The serpent is the devil, the synod the 
representative of the churches of Christ in Ncav England. The 
devil had formerly and lately attempted their disturbance and disso- 
lution ; but tlieir faith in the seed of tlie Avoman overcame liim and 
cruslied his head." — Savage's edition of Winthrop, Vol. II. p. 330. 



* His attendance on this occasion shows the high estimation in which Mr. Iloolter 
was held as a preacher; — as " the Governor (to use his own Avords) did very seldom 
go from his own congregation on the Lord's day." 



SERMON 



PREACHED 



AT THE DEDICATION 



NEW MEETING HOUSE 



FOR THE USE 



OF THE FIRST PARISH IN CAMBRIDGE, 
On Thursday, Dec. 12, 1833. 



BY WILLIAM NEWELL, 

PASTOR OF THE SOCIETY. 



Urfntclt \i^ a^cqucst of tfjc Sorfrti). 



CAMBRIDGE: 

JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. 

1834. 



DISCOURSE. 



GENESIS, xxviii. 17. 

This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of 
Heaven. 



It is true — we learn it from the Gospel of 
Christ, as well as from the teachings of reason — 
that " God who made the world and all things 
therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, 
dwelleth not in temples made with hands ; " — 
that He does not confine the influences of his 
Spirit within the walls of any earthly sanctuary ; — 
that " His temple is all space, His altar, earth, sea, 
skies ; " — and that every part of His boundless 
dominion is filled with the glories of His power, 
and the brighter splendors of His goodness. We 
learn it from the Gospel of Christ, as well as from 
the teachings of reason, that God's eye of holiness 
and love is looking down upon us in the closet, 
where we pray to Him in secret, no less than in 
the public assembly ; — that "He is not far from 
every one of us, since in Him we live, and move, 
and have our being ; " — that it is only by faith, 
by an act of the mind, not of the body, that we 
bring ourselves into His presence ; — that to the 
5 



34 

holy all places are holy ; — and that Jesus, when 
he lifted up his eyes to Heaven in the open fields 
of Judea, was heard with no less acceptance than 
when he spake and worshipped in the temple at 
Jerusalem. But, true as this is, it is equally true 
that, as men, as finite beings, creatures of sense, 
we all need certain times and places and forms to 
aid us in the fit expression and exercise of devout 
feelings ; and that when such feelings have been 
repeatedly awakened in certain places, at certain 
times, by certain forms, they at length become 
strongly associated with each other in our minds, 
so that these outward circumstances have power to 
suggest and renew those inward affections and 
thoughts with which they have been so often con- 
nected, while, on the other hand, the sacredness, 
which belongs in fact only to the subject and the 
sentiment, is transferred in some degree by associa- 
tion to the spot and the occasion. This one ob- 
vious consideration, independent of all others, is 
sufficient to show, — if, indeed, it be not too plain 
to need any proof, — that it is not superstition, but 
the sound philosophy of the heart, which hallows 
and sets apart to religious uses some chosen place 
where, from Sabbath to Sabbath, God may be wor- 
shipped. His character and providence made known, 
the religion of the Saviour preached, defended, 
explained, and enforced ; where, from Sabbath to 
Sabbath, we may assemble with our families and 
friends, and publicly acknowledge our common 
dependence upon the Almighty Father and our 
accountability to His laws. 



35 



For this purpose have we erected the house in 
which we are to-day met for the first time : — and 
we are now assembled according to ancient and 
appropriate usage to dedicate it to the worship of 
God and the teaching of Christianity. From the 
earliest times it has been been customary to set 
apart the temples of the Lord by some special cere- 
mony to the uses for which they were erected. 
This ceremony, like all others, has had its abuses 
and perversions. It has been made, in some coun- 
tries, an occasion of priestly pomp, or of super- 
stitious mummery. But, in the principle on which 
it is founded, it must approve itself to the feelings 
and the judgment of all ; and when observed, as 
it commonly has been among us, it can be objected 
to only by those who are disposed to cavil at all 
forms however natural and simple. It is hardly 
necessary to say to any here present, that by this 
act of dedication we do not expect to invest these 
walls with any mystic and peculiar sanctity such as 
they would not have without it ; — such as to 
make the prayers and vows of the worshipper more 
acceptable to God than if they were offered up in 
any other place with that spirit of faith, which 
alone can hallow them. The ceremony in which 
we now engage is simply a public and solemn 
declaration of the pur])oses for which this house 
has been built and to which it is hereafter to be 
appropriated ; and a public and solemn expression 
of our dependence upon God, whose presence and 
blessing we now invoke for the successful accom- 
plishment of those purposes. 



36 

To what purposes, then, and in what spirit, are 
we now, as Christians, to dedicate this house ? 

We dedicate it in the lirst place to the worship 
of the only living and true God ; the King eternal, 
immortal, invisible ; the Maker of heaven and of 
earth ; the Preserver and Rider of the universe ; 
the Governor of angels and of men ; the centre and 
the source of life, knowledge, happiness ; the all- 
powerful, all-wise, all-holy, all-merciful, all-good ; 
whose tender mercies are over all his works, all his 
creatures, in the punishments of hell, as well as in 
the rewards of heaven ; our greatest Benefactor, 
our everlasting Friend ; on whom we depend for 
life, breath, and all things ; by whose power, every 
moment exerted, we are preserved in being ; by 
whose goodness, ever operating, we are surrounded 
with privileges and enjoyments ; by whose provi- 
dence all events are so ordered as to produce the 
greatest amount of happiness to each and to all ; — 
the heart-searching Witness, and righteous Judge, 
to whom we are accountable for the deeds done in 
the body ; whose will it is our highest wisdom to 
learn, to do, and to bear ; whose favor is better 
than life, whose displeasure is more to be feared 
than death ; — to sum up all in a few comprehen- 
sive names, our Father in Heaven, — the Father 
of Lights, — the Father of our immortal spirits, 
and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
To this glorious and good Being we would hence- 
forth unitedly offer in this place the sacrifices of 
love and faith ; of thanksgiving for his mercies ; 
of supplication for his pardon and guidance ; and of 



37 



intercession for His blessing upon our friends, our 
fellow-citizens, our fellow-Christians, our brother- 
men of every name and nation under heaven. 

Secondly, we dedicate this house to the teaching 
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that 
he is the Messiah, the Son of the living God ; that 
he was divinely authorized and empowered to teach 
us the most important of all truths ; the charac- 
ter of the Supreme Being, the principles of His 
government, the conditions of His forgiveness, 
our relations to Him, our duty, our destination, 
our true happiness, the great objects of the pres- 
ent life and its connexion with the life to come. 
We believe that he was sent by the Father 
upon the most sublime and benevolent mission 
which was ever entrusted to any being who has 
appeared upon this earth ; that he came to promote 
the everlasting happiness of the whole human 
family ; that he came to educate us for God and 
for eternity, to qualify us for the nearer presence 
and enjoyment and service of the All-Holy Spirit, 
and for the exalted delights and duties of the 
second and of all future states of existence. We 
believe that by obedience to the laws of his Gos- 
pel, which are the laws of eternal right and eter- 
nal excellence, that by manifesting the spirit, 
forming the character, living the life which he 
taught and exemplified, we are saved, are made 
happy, are formed to the image of God, and pre- 
pared for the bliss of heaven. We believe that 
the principles and influences of his religion are, in 
the course of events, and according to the laws of 



38 



Divine Providence and of the human mind, to 
become yet more powerful, to spread from nation 
to nation, to reign over the hearts of mankind at 
some now distant age, and thus to establish the 
true and only Millenium, when God in his spirit 
shall establish his abode with men, and Christ 
in his gospel shall become the King and the 
Saviour of the whole earth. We believe that this 
Gospel has within itself the elements of progress ; 
that as it opens to our view objects of pursuit and 
imitation, which are of an infinite character, as it is 
free from all those peculiarities and temporary and 
local forms which would limit its influence to any 
one age or nation, it will, in every advancing stage 
of human improvement, be still in advance of the 
human mind. We believe that Christianity is fit- 
ted and designed to promote the best interests of 
society as well as of individuals ; and that in pro- 
portion as a community are penetrated with a sense 
of its value and truth, and are generally enlightened 
by its quickening doctrines and sanctified by its 
moral power, in the same proportion will that com- 
munity be free, prosperous, peaceful and happy. 
We believe in short that " the Father sent tlie 
Son to be the Saviour of the world ; " — the 
Saviour of the world by his teaching, his ex- 
ample, and the various influences of that Gospel, 
which he sealed with his blood upon the cross. — 
We acknowledge it, then, to be the great duty and 
privilege of all in every station, be they ministers 
or hiymen, to do what in them lies for the support 
and propagation of this Gospel ; for fixing its prin- 



39 

ciples in their own minds and hearts, and for com- 
municating them to others ; and thus to be fellow- 
workers with God and Christ in sanctifying and 
saving immortal souls. 

We therefore solemnly dedicate this house to the 
service of Christianity ; to the preaching of right- 
eousness, temperance, and a judgment to come. 
Here may the truths of the Gospel, its precepts, 
its promises, its warnings, its motives, and its 
sanctions be proclaimed with faithfulness and sim- 
plicity ; be received with attentive and under- 
standing minds ; and bring forth the abundant fruits 
of holiness and peace. 

But in dedicating this house to the teaching of 
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as the Son of God and 
the spiritual Saviour of man, it is well known that 
our views concerning the nature of Christ and the 
doctrines of his Gospel differ from those which are 
held by many of our fellow- Christians. Chris- 
tianity, as ive understand it, has been and is still 
connected with many and great errors. — Though 
it was established in the world by miraculous 
power, it was not exempted from the common in- 
fluences and ordinary laws which regulate the 
course of events in the moral world. The good 
seed of the word was planted by the hand of God ; 
but left to grow free and wild in the great field 
of human nature. It did grow and flourish, till it 
spread over the earth. But it was not preserved 
by a perpetual miracle from the changes and cor- 
ruptions, to which all truth is liable in its transmis- 
sion from one mind to another, and from one age 



40 



and nation to another. Hence, as might be ex- 
pected, it has been often disfigured and darkened 
in its progress through past ages by the false phi- 
losophy of the times ; and is still, as we think, 
incrusted with errors of doctrine which grew up 
and gathered about it in the earlier and darker 
ages of the church. With the Reformation, indeed, 
we date a new and glorious era in the history of 
our religion, when the principles of religious lib- 
erty, the right of free inquiry, and the sufficiency 
of the Scriptures as a standard of faith and prac- 
tice, began to be understood and recognised. But 
the Reformation only commenced the work, which 
is yet to be completed. The Reformers were 
fallible men like ourselves. We would follow 
them only so far as they followed Christ. Our 
Puritan fathers, much as their memory is to be 
venerated, were fallible men like ourselves. And 
we would follow them, only so far as they followed 
Christ. We receive only those doctrines, which, 
with our means of information, and according to our 
best judgment, appear to us the doctrines of Scrip- 
ture and reason ; and all others we reject, however 
venerable may be the names and the characters of 
those by whom they may have been held in past 
times. We trust that, were they now living, they 
would be willing to " receive farther light than that 
which they at first received ; " and that in the world 
of spirits, where they enjoy the society and the 
instructions of Jesus, they have already received it. 
A sounder philosophy, a more enlightened crit- 
icism, juster views of Scriptural interpretation, 



41 

deeper researches into ecclesiastical history, together 
with the oeneral advancement of all the branches 
of human knowledge, have thrown new lights upon 
the truths of religion. We enjoy greater advan- 
tages than our predecessors, and those who follow 
us will enjoy greater advantages than the men 
of this age, for farther progress. We therefore 
rejoice in the hope that religious knowledge will 
continue to advance, as it has hitherto done, and that 
men's views of God and of their relations to Ilim 
will become more clear, and more spiritual, and 
that this is more likely to be the case in our own 
country, where the people are generally well in- 
formed, and there are no unnatural restraints upon 
free inquiry and the independent expression of 
opinion, than in the old world. But even here in the 
freest state of society, the truth as it is in Jesus, 
if it differ, as w^e are convinced it does, from those 
systems of doctrine which have been generally 
received, has still many obstacles to encounter. 
It must contend with ignorance and prejudice ; 
with misunderstanding and misrepresentation ; 
with the apathy of the indifferent, and the back- 
wardness of the temporizing ; w ith conscientious 
opposition and interested hostility ; with the errors 
of early education, which linger about the minds 
o( the best men, and often make them violent, 
though well-meaning, opposers of new doctrines ; 
and with wrong principles of reasoning, wrono- 
methods of studying the Scriptures, and wron"- 
maxims of interpretation, which, as long as they 
prevail, must remain a fatal bar to the understand- 
6 



42 

ing and reception of just views of Christianity. 
These are but a part of the many obstacles which 
lie in the way of religious truth, when it is at va- 
riance with received opinions. I have mentioned 
them only to show that we are called to exert our- 
selves in its defence and promotion. We are 
solemnly bound by our duty to God, to our Master, 
to our fellow-men, to expose and confute what we 
regard as important errors, connected with the 
Gospel, and to show that doctrines which have 
been hitherto considered as an essential part of 
Christianity are not contained in the New Testa- 
ment, when it is interpreted and understood aright. 

We dedicate this house, then, to the worship of 
God, and the teaching of the Gospel, in the spirit 
of a Christian zeal for those doctrines which we 
from our hearts believe to be the truth of God ; 
in the spirit of a Christian zeal for what we deem 
to be just, practical, and evangelical views of re- 
ligion and duty. 

But earnestness in the cause of truth is not in- 
consistent with respect, kindness, and brotherly 
love towards those who differ from us in religious 
opinions. We would therefore dedicate this house 
to the worship of God and the teaching of Christ's 
Gospel, in the spirit of an enlightened charity as 
well as of a sincere zeal. However firmly we 
may contend fc;r our own laith and our own rights, 
however strenuously we may resist what we deem 
the mistaken measures and erroneous doctrines of 
our fellow-Christians, God forbid that we should 
do so in a bitter and intolerant temper. We are not 



43 



so ignorant, or so presumptuous as to expect a uni- 
formity of opinion, which never has and never can 
be established while man is man. We see thnt re- 
ligious differences and religious controversies are 
unavoidable from the very constitution of the human 
mind, the circumstances of our condition, and the 
nature of the subjects of religion. 

While there exists so wide a diversity among 
men in their capacities, their acquisitions, their 
means of information, and the influences by which 
they are surrounded, it is not strange that their 
views and opinions should have a corresponding 
diversity. One man sees only a part of the facts 
on which another has built his opinion ; or if his 
knowledge of facts be as extensive, his mode of 
reasoning upon them may be different. He may 
view them under different relations, and draw from 
them different conclusions. You therefore find two 
persons of apparently equal opportunities of inform- 
ation passing opposite judgments upon questions in 
history, in politics, in the science of education, in 
the theory of government, in the principles of po- 
litical economy, in ethics, in metaphysics, in nat- 
ural philosophy, in astronomy, and in all the thou- 
sand branches of human knowledge. If such a di- 
versity of sentiment exists even among those who 
have been brought up under similar influences, sim- 
ilar associations, similar modes of instruction, whose 
habits of thinking and feeling are therefore similar, 
what else can we expect among those whose cir- 
cumstances and opportunities have been entirely 
different ? — What is true with respect to all other 



44 

subjects is true also of religion, and probably to a 
still wider extent. — For in this all men have an 
interest, and a deejD one. It addresses itself to 
their strongest fears and hopes. It involves their 
welfare not only for time but for eternity. They 
are therefore more generally concerned in this than 
in any other subject, and more likely, not only to 
form opinions, but to lay stress on the opinions 
they may form. 

Besides, the subjects of religious difference are 
often of an abstruse and metaphysical nature, re- 
quiring not only extensive knowledge, but deep 
thought, refined discrimination and subtle reason- 
ing. The nature, attributes, and moral government 
of an Infinite Being, whose perfections we can only 
faintly conceive and imperfectly comprehend, the 
mode in which He operates on the mind, the char- 
acter, the powers, the destination of the sou], the 
conditions and means of salvation, the future world 
with its shadowy scenes just glimmering on our 
eyes, its employments, its retributions, — all pres- 
ent topics of dispute not easily settled by the most 
acute and the most enlightened. 

Again, if we direct our attention more particu- 
larly to the volume of revelation, new sources of 
doubt and difficulty are set before us. The oracles 
of divine truth are uttered by God's messengers in 
human language, and all human language is subject 
to ambiguity. You can hardly write or speak a 
sentence which is not capable of two or more in- 
terpretations. Usually, in the common intercourse 
of life, we have no difficulty in ascertaining which 



45 

of them is intended bj the words used. It is de- 
termined by the subject spoken of, by the laws of 
mental association, by the circumstances of the case 
already known to us, by the character and conduct 
of the speaker, and by many little accompaniments 
of gesture, tone, and look, which aid us in at once 
fixing upon the true idea represented by the uncer- 
tain sounds of the voice. But in written language 
we meet with much greater difficulty, because we 
have fewer of the aids which have been mentioned 
in determining the meaning. It is on account of 
this essential ambiguity of human language as a 
medium for the communication of thought, that it 
has been found necessary to devise the technicali- 
ties and careful repetitions and minute specifica- 
tions of legal documents and legal decisions. How 
much nice particularity of expression is required to 
guard the last will and testament of the dying man 
against the questions that may be raised upon it. 
A doubtful preposition or an equivocal adverb may 
give rise to a long and vexatious controversy among 
the interested heirs. Now the books of the New 
Testament, the Testament of Jesus Christ, sealed 
with the blood of its Author are written, not 
like a legal document, but in a loose popular 
style. Its propositions are not expressed like those 
of a statute book, but in the style of narrative and 
of moral discourses, in which a legal precision is 
not needed nor expected. They are liable, there- 
fore, to be variously understood and misunderstood. 
They are often capable of two interpretations, and 
to decide which is the true one will require thought 



46 

and study ; a consideration of many facts and cir- 
cumstances ; and a comparison of the passage in 
question with many other passages, before we are 
properly qualified to ascertain the sense intended 
by the writer. — The difficulty is increased, in the 
case in question, by other circumstances, to which 
I can but briefly allude. The original languages 
in which the Scriptures are written are no longer 
spoken ; and we are often thrown adrift on the 
wide sea of grammatical conjecture when we at- 
tempt to explore their obscurities by the faint 
liffhts of verbal criticism. The customs and man- 
ners too of the people among whom the events re- 
corded took place ; the peculiarities of thought and 
expression which mark the style of the several wri- 
ters of the sacred books ; the modes of reasoning 
which they employ, the figures in which they de- 
light ; the character of their minds, the circum- 
stances of their situation ; the state of opinion and 
feeling among those whom they addressed ; the ob- 
jections and prejudices they had to encounter ; — 
are all to be studied, understood, and borne in mind 
by one who wishes to enter into the true and full 
import of the Scriptures. I need not tell you how 
difficult it must be at this distance of time to ascer- 
tain satisfactorily all these preliminaries to a thor- 
ough understanding of the Bible. Is it wonderful, 
then, that it should contain much that seems ob- 
scure ? or that it should be differently understood 
and explained by different individuals, according to 
the different degrees of information which they 
possess, their different powers of judgment and 



47 

discrimination, and the different principles of rea- 
soning and interpretation with which they come to 
the examination of the Gospel ? — In view of these 
considerations it is out of the question, — even sup- 
posing all to be equally desirous of knowing the 
truth, and equally anxious to obey it — it is out of 
the question to expect a uniformity of religious 
belief in the world. There must be variety of 
opinion on this subject as on every other. While 
this variety of opinion exists, there will of course 
be a variety of distinct sects. Those who agree 
on some leading points of doctrine will organize 
themselves into associations for the support of what 
they deem to be essential or at least important 
truth. Thus the Christian community has always 
been, and always will be, divided into conflicting 
denominations ; and controversies will continue as 
long as the present nature and condition of man- 
kind remain the same. 

With these views of the origin of religious differ- 
ences and controversies (which, with all their evils 
and abuses, are useful, as means of discovering and 
spreading truth, and keeping up an interest in the 
subject of religion) we would look with the spirit of 
an enlightened charity on all of every name who love 
the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ; who have a true 
desire to promote his kingdom of righteousness in 
themselves and in others. However erroneous their 
theological opinions may be, they are disciples of the 
same Lord whom we acknowledge, worshippers of 
the same God, members of that one vast church 
which comprehends the good and the wise of all ages 



48 

and all sects. They are fellow-travellers to the same 
heaven, though by various paths, which seem indeed 
to those who are walking in them to be widely sep- 
arated, but are in fact all converging to the same 
common point, where the divided followers of Jesus 
will at length meet in a harmonious and eternal 
union. — We consider the different forms of belief 
among Christians, as but so many different shapes in 
which the same spirit of faith may dwell ; so many 
different moulds in which the same material is cast ; 
so many different developements of the same uni- 
versal principle. The truth is, that in all these 
systems of theology, various and discordant as they 
appear, a few great principles of morality and reli- 
gion, drawn from the clear teachings of the Gospel, 
and too plain to be disputed, exert an illuminating 
and sanctifying influence amidst the jarring ele- 
ments of error. A little leaven of Christian truth 
leaveneth the noxious mass of false doctrine and 
makes it nutritive and wholesome. The mind, with 
a moral instinct, fixes upon the vital and practical 
part of a creed, and slides over the speculative er- 
rors connected with it. It either regards them as 
mysteries, and so does not think of them at all, or 
carry them out into their mischievous consequences, 
or it so explains them away, as to make them con- 
sistent with the sound conclusions of reason and 
common sense ; or else they are so modified by 
other acknowledged principles, that they do not 
produce the bad effects to which they tend. 

Thus it happens, that doctrines, which, in spec- 
ulation, involve the most dangerous and immoral 



49 

consequences, are often harmless in their practical 
operation upon individuals who profess them. And 
thus it is that many opinions concerning the attri- 
butes and government of God, the nature of man, 
and the mediation of Christ, which to us appear 
erroneous and unscriptural, have been firmly held 
by men who are entitled to our admiration and 
love ; in whom, what we should think the natural 
evil tendencies of such doctrines, are counteracted 
by causes to w Inch I have already alluded ; and 
who show themselves in all their conduct and tem- 
per to be under the influence of Christian motives 
and principles. God be praised that it is so ! — 
God be praised that amidst the manifold and multi- 
plying varieties of worship, and discipline, and doc- 
trine, the great, vital, saving, and sanctifying prin- 
ciples of religion rise, like the spires of our churches, 
above the mists and fogs of earth, seen by all eyes, 
and guiding us on our way to heaven ! God be 
praised for the glorious instances of this cheering 
fact ; for the multitude which no man can number 
of this and of past ages, who have shone alike in 
the splendors of goodness, but have been ranked 
under different names in theology ! 

On these grounds we would gladly hail as breth- 
ren all who call themselves by the name of Christ, 
in whom we find the Christianity of the heart and 
the Orthodoxy of the life. We would tolerate ev- 
ery thing but intolerance. That must be exposed 
and put down an enemy and an outlaw, against 
whom even Charity must sometimes force herself to 
play the warrior that she may have a more lasting 
7 



50 



peace. In contending:, however, that the fundamen- 
tals of piety and true religion, the religion of the heart, 
are to be found in individuals of every sect, because 
every sect takes the New Testament for its rule of 
faith, and the moral, life-giving truths which are 
there written are too plain to be obscured by the 
errors of human speculation, it does not therefore 
follow that it is of no consequence what we believe, 
or that all systems of doctrine are equally well cal- 
culated to promote real godliness, and to advance 
the cause of Christ in the world. That of course 
must be the most powerful to this end, which ap- 
j)roaches nearest to the truth of God, and to the 
faith as it was once delivered to the saints. It be- 
comes my duty, then, and the duty of every Chris- 
tian, to inquire by the lights which God has given us 
in his word and in his works, which of the reli- 
gious systems proposed to us is the true one. In 
pursuing this inquiry, we are to consider which is 
the most reasonable, the most simple, the most 
easily understood, the most plain and practical ; 
and again, which is mostcliarly taught in Scripture, 
which agrees best with the undisputed doctrines 
of the Bible, with its prevailing spirit, with the 
plain declarations of Christ and the Apostles, with 
their conduct and the conduct of those about them. 
Whatever may be the result of our inquiries, which- 
soever among the various modifications of religious 
belief we are led to receive, that it is our duty, by 
all fair means, on all proper occasions, to maintain 
and to spread. 

In being liberal, we are not to be indifferent to 



51 

the truth. While we joyfully acknowledge, that 
in many religious systems, vvhich we on the whole 
condemn, there may be so much good as to over- 
balance the evil, and while we see that it is the 
practical part of a creed which is always the most 
efficient, we are not to forget that the errors, on 
which it is built, or which are connected with it, 
are so many clogs and hindrances to the power of 
true religion. Men become righteous and happy, not 
in consequence, but in spite of them ; and by their 
removal, they would be enabled to go on with a 
more rapid and easy step, and ascend far higher in 
the scale of goodness. 

Besides this, we are to remember that such 
errors have made in past times and are still making 
infidels and skeptics everywhere ; and that the 
more clear and reasonable and consistent Christi- 
anity is shown to be in all its parts, the more rea- 
dily it will be embraced, the more firmly it will be 
held, the more powerfully it will act on the heart 
and the life. As far then as, for these and for 
other reasons, the doctrines which we hold are im- 
portant, and are likely in our opiniou to promote 
the interests of vital religion and pure Christianity 
among men, it is our duty to contend earnestly for 
them. That there are good men in every sect is 
no argument for indifference, but only for tolera- 
tion and charity. Although errors and absurdities 
have been neutralized and overlooked by some 
minds, they may not be, indeed we know they have 
not been, by all. And although the sanctifying 
influence of essential Gospel truth, which is in its 



52 

nature universal, and stamped with the eternity of 
the God from whom it came, has been felt in some 
degree of its power in all Christian denomina- 
tions, we should wish to have it embraced in that 
form which will give it its most extensive and 
efficient influence. We are bound therefore to 
uphold and to diffuse, as far as we have opportu- 
nity, what we conceive to be truer and higher 
views than those of our fellow-Christians of other 
denominations ; always keeping before us, as the 
great end and object of our endeavours, the pro- 
motion of vital piety and practical religion. 

Entertaining such views of the course to be 
pursued amid the controversies of the present day, 
we now dedicate this church to the worship of 
God and to the teaching of the Gospel in the spirit 
of Christian zeal for the truth, and of Christian 
friendship towards all who differ from us. * 

Henceforth then, my brethren, we are to 
assemble within these walls for the worship of 
God and the hearing of His word. Henceforth, 
with each returning Sabbath, are we to offer up 
in this place our spiritual sacrifices of thanksgiving 
and prayer. Here, with each returning Sabbath, 
shall the voice of supplication ascend to the Father 
of Lights and the Father of Mercies for the gifts 
of His spirit; for the blessing which He has prom- 
ised to His believing children ; for holy dispositions 
and Christian graces ; for perseverance in duty ; 

* A paragraph relating to the several churches erected for the use 
of the parish is here oinittod ; as tlie facts stated in it arc contained in 
the previous discourse. 



53 



for strength to resist temptation ; for courage and 
cheerfulness in times of trial ; for resignation and 
trust and the inward peace which the world can 
neither give nor take away : — and these not only 
for ourselves, but for others ; for our friends, for 
our enemies, for the whole family of man. Here, 
with each returning Sabbath, will we sing with 
one accord the praises of the Most High God, and 
these walls shall echo back the strains of sacred 
melody which sound forth from the pealing organ, 
and the lips of the living voice. Here, with each 
returning Sabbath, will we sit in solemn or joyful 
meditations on the character and providence of the 
Father ; here renew the good purposes which have 
been choked by the cares of the world ; here 
dedicate our children in baptism to the service of 
God ; here break the bread and drink the wine 
of remembrance, as disciples of Him, whose body 
was broken, and whose blood was shed for many. 
Here, with each returning Sabbath, in the midst 
of our kindred and friends, we will hallow the 
bond of domestic love and the tenderness of do- 
mestic sympathy by the mingled pleasures of de- 
votion ; here, with them, take sweet counsel from 
the oracles of truth on the ways and works of 
Ciod, and the duties of man ; with th(>m, ])repare 
ourselves for death and for life, for the duties of 
time and the higher duties of eternity. — And may 
we never engage in the services of this house with- 
out a solemn sense of our dependence on the 
Almighty ; a sincere desire to learn and to obey 
His will ; and such motives and feelings as can 



54 

alone make our worship holy and acceptable in 
His sii^ht. Never may these pure walls be dese- 
crated to any unholy or uncharitable purpose. 
Never may this pulpit be converted into an arena 
for the pugilism of theology ; a show-place of po- 
lemical skill and vehemence ; a rostrum for relig- 
ious demagogues ; a mount Sinai quaking with the 
thunders and earthquakes of denunciation. Let it 
be for higher and better uses. Let it be an altar 
of love to God, and love to man ; hallowed by the 
incense of heaven-seeking and heaven-blest hopes, 
desires, and affections ; an altar, over which the 
angels may sing their hymn of" good will Iq me7i,^^ 
and hear no jarring notes to make discord of the 
music ; where Charity wreathes her olive branch, 
and Faith kneels with upward look gazing after 
her ascended Lord, and the Holy Spirit breathes 
its still and dovelike influences ; an altar, on which 
the name of the Prince of Peace is written in the 
blood shed for many for the forgiveness of sins, and 
He, who is over all and in all, the God of light 
and of love, even the Father, may dwell as upon 
His mercy-seat between the cherubims. — Holy 
Father, suffer us not to profane this thy dwelling- 
place by bitterness, or wrath, or evil speaking. 
May this place be to each one of you the house 
of God and the gate of heaven. May you long 
enjoy its ministrations. May you never slight or 
abuse its privileges. May many of you live — 
if he who addresses does not — till the holy asso- 
ciations, which will gradually gather about this 
sanctuary, shall have given it a more peculiar sa- 



55 

credness. But it is not probable that many of 
those, who are now assembled within it as wit- 
nesses of its dedication unto God, will live to see 
another in its place. One by one, we are hasten- 
ing in silent procession to the city of the dead. One 
by one, the frail worshippers in this earthly tem- 
ple will be laid in the arms of the all-embracing 
grave. Ere many years shall have rolled swiftly by, 
another assembly, unknown to us, will occupy these 
seats, and the places that have known us will 
know us no more. Ere many years, or perchance 
many months, shall have been numbered with the 
past, the voices of some of those who have joined 
in the services of this day may be hushed in 
death. We shall pass away and be forgotten. 
As we wander among the tombs of this ancient 
burial-place, sunken monuments and obliterated 
epitaplis, telling of death, but not of the dead, 
give us sure warning of our own fate. We shall 
be forgotten by the busy actors in to-morrow's 
history ; but our example and influence for good 
or for evil will live and act upon the generations 
that follow us. We shall be forgotten of men, but 
not of God ; we shall be forgotten, but not dead. 
So live, then, mortal, immortal friends, that when 
this earthly sanctuary no longer hears your vows, 
and you can no longer utter them, — when yon- 
der sun that now shines upon your living eyes, 
shall clothe your grave with funeral verdure, — 
you may dwell in your Father's house forever ; 
where the sun of God's presence shall shine into 
your hearts ; where the Holy Spirit of the Ever- 



56 

living One shall overshadow the pure soul, and fill 
it with such peace and joy, such power and love, 
as we can now neither conceive of,nor describe, — 
where you will know Him better, and love Him 
more fervently, and serve Him more constantly 
and more acceptably forever ; — even in that 
building of God, that " house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens." 



ERRATUM. 



In the first Discourse on page G in the note, for "since 18Jr>," read "since the fust 
Sunday in November, 1814." 



Camhriditc : 
Munson. Emerson, and Oraiit, Vfintcri. 







U 



I 



